Chapter 1
Federal Research and Development
in Alabama
• Approximately $2.4 billion of federal R&D funds are spent each year in
Alabama.
• Alabama ranks 11th among the 50 states, District of Columbia, and
Puerto Rico in terms of the amount of federal R&D dollars received annually.
• Approximately 23 percent of all federal funds spent in Alabama each year
on matters other than the direct support of individuals (i.e., such entitlements as retirement, disability, and housing assistance) is spent on
R&D.
DOD
~$1.2 billion
– Army Battle lab
– Army aeromedical
research lab
– Army Aviation
Technical Test Ctr
– Army Rotary Wing
Aviation Unit
– Army ARDEC unit
– Army Missile RDEC
units
– Army Redstone
Technical Test Ctr.
– NRL unit
– Space and Missile
Defense Technical Ctr
– R&D contracts
– Project grants
– Cooperative
agreements
AA
AA
AA
AA
AAA
AA
AAA
AAA
AAA
AAA
HHS
~$148 million
– R&D contracts
– Project grants
Other
~$89 million
– NSF, USDA, DOI, DOC, DOT, EPA,
DVA, TVA, etc.
NASA
~$829 million
– Marshall Space Ctr.
– R&D contracts
– Project grants
DOE
~$53 million
– R&D contracts
– Project grants
– Cooperative
agreements
Figure 1.1 – Sources of Federal R&D Dollars Spent in Alabama
(Total Federal R&D ~$2.4 billion)
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DISCOVERY AND INNOVATION
Background
In recent years, the federal government has spent in the neighborhood of $2.4 billion annually in Alabama on research and development
(R&D) activities. On average, federal R&D dollars account for approximately 23 percent of all federal funds spent in Alabama each year
on matters other than the direct support of individuals (i.e., such entitlements as retirement, disability, and housing assistance).
Most major federal agencies that currently support federal R&D
efforts provide funding for R&D activities in Alabama. Foremost
among these agencies is the Department of Defense (DOD), which accounts for 52 percent of all federal R&D dollars spent in the state. The
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) account for an additional 35 percent and 6 percent of the federal R&D dollars spent in Alabama, respectively. The remaining federal R&D dollars come
collectively from the Departments of Energy (DOE), Agriculture
(USDA), and Interior (DOI); the National Science Foundation (NSF);
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); and several other federal
agencies.1
All federal R&D dollars spent in Alabama either cover the costs of
operating federal R&D units in the state, including paying the salaries
of federal R&D personnel working at these units, or are awarded as
grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements to entities in the state. The
following is an overview of what becomes of these federal R&D dollars
once they arrive in Alabama.
Federal R&D Units in Alabama
Auburn, Alabama, is home to USDA’s G. W. Andrews Forestry Sciences
Laboratory, Fish Diseases and Parasites Research Laboratory, and National Soil Dynamics Laboratory and DOI’s Alabama Cooperative
Fish and Wildlife Research Unit.
1 For
a complete agency-by-agency breakdown of these R&D dollars, see Appendix C.
FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN ALABAMA 3
• The G. W. Andrews Forestry Sciences Laboratory is a unit of the
Southern Research Station inside USDA’s Forest Service. It is on
the campus of Auburn University. The laboratory conducts research on vegetation management in southern forests and forest
engineering. Specific research activities include developing principles and practices for regenerating and managing pines and
hardwoods, as well as gathering data on the impacts, fate, and
distribution of herbicides in forests. The forest engineering portion of the laboratory focuses on improving forest management
through the mechanization of forest operations. It conducts
studies to develop more economical harvesting and regeneration
systems. The research project on vegetation management and
longleaf pine at the laboratory focuses on how to control undesirable vegetation in southern pine and upland hardwood
forests, the fate of herbicides in forest ecosystems, and the development of principles and practices for regenerating and managing longleaf pine. This federal R&D unit annually receives
approximately $2.1 million of federal R&D funds and has
about 20 employees.
• The Fish Diseases and Parasites Research Laboratory is a unit of
USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) located on the
campus of Auburn University. It conducts research on the quality of catfish products and on veterinary bacteriology, parasitology, nutrition, and immunology to address the problems in
aquaculture that diminish productivity. Specific research activities of this lab include developing vaccines and vaccine delivery
systems to prevent diseases and parasite problems; developing
rapid diagnostic tests for the earliest intervention against diseases and parasites; and developing catfish diets that will enhance disease and parasite resistance, meet optimal nutritional
needs during growing stages, and reduce fish waste in farm
ponds. This federal R&D unit, together with the National Soil
Dynamics Laboratory described below, annually receives approximately $3.1 million of federal R&D funds and has about
35 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs).
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DISCOVERY AND INNOVATION
• The National Soil Dynamics Laboratory is a unit of USDA’s ARS
located on the campus of Auburn University. It conducts research on developing the knowledge required for managing soil
for sustainable and profitable agricultural production. Specifically, it conducts research on tillage, traction, soil compaction,
and crop residue management to enhance conservation farming.
In addition, the laboratory conducts research on organic wastes
to enhance soil quality and soil structure. The funding and
staffing information for this federal R&D unit is included in
those presented immediately above for the Fish Diseases and
Parasites Research Laboratory.
• The Alabama Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit is
part of DOI’s U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). This unit is on the
campus of Auburn University. It conducts research on fish and
wildlife ecology and investigates the production, utilization,
management, protection, and restoration of populations of fish
and wildlife. Specific research activities of this unit include assessing flathead channel catfish populations in the Tallapoosa
River and examining the effects of surface mine reclamation on
aquatic communities. This federal R&D unit annually receives
approximately $177,000 of federal R&D funds and has two
FTEs.
Birmingham, Alabama, is home to a Department of Veterans Affairs
(DVA) R&D unit.
• While the principal focus of the Birmingham VA Medical Center is providing medical care to veterans, it is also the location of
a number of research activities. In a recent year, this federally
owned and operated facility was the site of 148 projects with
total funding of approximately $3 million. These R&D activities focus on a wide range of topics, including radiotherapy, drug
therapy, neutrophils, HIV, congestive heart failure, and neoplasms.
Dothan, Alabama, is home to DOD’s Army Aeromedical Research
Laboratory, Army Aviation Technical Test Center, Rotary Wing Aviation Research Unit, and Air Maneuver Battle Laboratory.
FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN ALABAMA 5
• The Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory at Fort Rucker is
a unit of DOD. It conducts R&D on the health hazards of
Army aviation, tactical combat vehicles, and selected weapon
systems; assesses the stress and fatigue of those operating these
systems; and designs the criteria on which to base standards for
entry and retention in Army aviation specialties. Specific areas
of interest include medical study of visual/auditory functions,
man-machine integration, physiological responses to operational environments, impact of continuous operations on individual and crew performance, testing of aeromedical evacuation
life support equipment, development of improved means of patient evacuation, and airworthiness. This federal unit annually
receives about $5 million of federal R&D funds, virtually all of
which are spent on in-house activities, and has a staff of about
80 people, half of whom are civilians.
• The Army Aviation Technical Test Center at Fort Rucker is a
unit of DOD. It conducts R&D on the performance, reliability,
and maintainability of fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, aircraft components, and related ground support equipment. This
federal unit annually receives about $9.6 million of federal
R&D funds, all of which are spent on in-house activities, and
has a staff of about 120 people, close to 100 of whom are civilians.
• The Rotary-Wing Aviation Research Unit at Fort Rucker is a
unit inside DOD’s Army Research Institute for Behavioral and
Social Sciences headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. Additional sites are in Orlando, Florida; Fort Benning, Georgia;
Fort Knox, Kentucky; Fort Monroe, Virginia; Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Fort Hood, Texas;
Heidelberg, Germany; and Boise, Idaho. It conducts research on
simulation-based aircrew training. Specific research activities of
this unit include researching the best use of flight simulation,
part-task trainers, and other information technology tools to improve the efficiency of Army rotary-wing flight training.
Through the use of such instructional resources as simulators,
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DISCOVERY AND INNOVATION
PC-based instructional tools, and part-task training aids, the
unit also tries to reduce the heavy reliance on the aircraft as the
primary means of pilot training. The program employs a number of research simulation tools, including the Simulator Training Advanced Testbed for Aviation (an Apache flight simulator),
a TH-67 low-cost, commercial flight simulator, an OH-58D
Kiowa Warrior Simulator and an Intelligent Flight Trainer for
the TH-67 aircraft. This federal R&D unit annually receives approximately $2 million in federal R&D funds, only a portion of
which is spent on in-house R&D activities, and has about nine
civilians directly involved in R&D activities.
• The Air Maneuver Battle Laboratory at Fort Rucker is a unit of
the Army inside DOD. It is one of 11 battle laboratories established to define the horizontally integrated capabilities required
to operate and field an effective Army. This laboratory conducts
research on advanced concepts and technology relating to the
contribution of air maneuver forces and operations. Specific research activities of this laboratory focus on such areas as developing information technologies to support extended range communications, mobile command and control, and tactical
reconnaissance. This federal unit annually receives about $1.3
million of federal R&D funds, only a portion of which is spent
in-house, and has six civilian personnel.
Huntsville, Alabama, is home to NASA’s George C. Marshall Space
Flight Center; and DOD’s Army Aviation Research, Development,
and Engineering Center; eight directorates and one initiative of the
Army Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center; Redstone Technical Test Center; Space and Missile Defense Technical Center; and Space and Missile Defense Battle Lab.
• The George C. Marshall Space Flight Center is a unit of NASA.
It conducts R&D on space propulsion and transportation systems, microgravity, and optics technology. The center also conducts research on global hydrology, astrophysics, and space
physics. Among the R&D activities under way at the center are
FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN ALABAMA 7
ones focusing on growing the purest possible protein crystals to
advance the design of drugs to fight diabetes, AIDS, emphysema,
cancer, and other diseases. Other R&D activities focus on improving the substance and production of inorganic materials
with semiconducting, insulating, and/or stabilizing properties
that are central to many aspects of modern communication,
transportation, and other systems. This federal facility annually
receives a total of approximately $2.3 billion, at least $687
million of which directly involves R&D efforts. The center
has about 2,822 FTEs, only a portion of whom are involved in
R&D activities. A substantial portion of its funds is spent on
the maintenance and operation of R&D equipment and facilities. In a recent year, over $275 million of R&D contracts
were awarded by the center, about $58 million of which were
made to entities based in Alabama.
• The Army Aviation Research, Development, and Engineering
Center is a unit of DOD. Its headquarters and Aviation Engineering Directorate are in Huntsville, Alabama, at the Redstone Arsenal, while its Applied Technology Directorate is in
Fort Eustis, Virginia, and its Aeroflight Dynamics Directorate is
at Moffett Field, California. The Aviation Engineering Directorate conducts R&D on aviation systems and subsystems, with
a specific emphasis on their weaponization. Particular research
areas of interest to the directorate include aeromechanics, structures, materials, propulsion, avionics, airworthiness, design integrity, and safety. The directorate is also intensely concerned
with aviation mission equipment, integration, and survivability;
aviation equipment reliability and maintainability; and aviation ground support. This federal unit annually receives approximately $9.8 million of federal R&D funds, about $2.6 million of which are spent on in-house activities, and has about 146
civilian personnel, only a portion of whom are directly involved
in R&D activities. The headquarters and administrative units of
the center annually receive approximately $13 million of federal
R&D funds, about $1.9 million of which are spent on in-house
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DISCOVERY AND INNOVATION
activities, and has about 31 civilian personnel, only a portion of
whom are directly involved in R&D activities. In October
1999, the Aviation Research, Development, and Engineering
Center was provisionally merged with the Missile Research,
Development, and Engineering Center, which is also headquartered in Huntsville.
• The Advanced Systems Directorate is a unit of DOD’s Army
Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center. The
center is headquartered in Huntsville at the Redstone Arsenal,
where all its directorates are also located. This directorate interfaces with the other parts of the Army to determine missile
weapon system requirements and with the technology community to determine the status of and to provide future direction regarding R&D in missile technology. This federal unit annually
receives about $11.9 million in federal R&D funds, approximately $1.4 million of which are spent on in-house activities,
and has about 35 civilian personnel, only a portion of whom are
directly involved in R&D activities. In October 1999, the Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center was provisionally merged with the Aviation Research, Development, and
Engineering Center, which is also headquartered in Huntsville,
Alabama.
• The Missile Guidance Directorate is a unit of DOD’s Army
Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center. The
center is headquartered in Huntsville at the Redstone Arsenal,
where all its directorates are also located. This directorate conducts R&D on all aspects of missile guidance systems, including
sensors; terminal guidance technologies; control devices; data
links for semiactive, beam rider, and command systems; data
links for unmanned vehicle systems; missile fire control functions; and hardware and software systems for missile systems
functions. It annually receives about $42 million in federal
R&D funds, approximately $13.9 million of which are spent on
in-house activities, and has about 186 civilian personnel, only a
FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN ALABAMA 9
portion of whom are directly involved in R&D activities. A substantial portion of these funds is spent on the maintenance and
operation of R&D equipment and facilities. In October 1999,
the Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center
was provisionally merged with the Aviation Research, Development, and Engineering Center, which is also headquartered in
Huntsville, Alabama.
• The Software Engineering Directorate is a unit of DOD’s Army
Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center. The
center is headquartered in Huntsville at the Redstone Arsenal,
where all its directorates are also located. This directorate conducts R&D on all aspects of computer hardware, software,
and engineering for weapons systems requiring computer automation, with a particular emphasis on built-in test capabilities
for computer systems. It annually receives about $19.4 million
in federal R&D funds, approximately $4.5 million of which are
spent on in-house activities, and has about 136 civilian personnel, only a portion of whom are directly involved in R&D activities. A portion of these funds is spent on the maintenance
and operation of R&D equipment and facilities. In October
1999, the Missile Research, Development, and Engineering
Center was provisionally merged with the Aviation Research,
Development, and Engineering Center, which is also headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama.
• The Propulsion and Structures Directorate is a unit of DOD’s
Army Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center.
The center is headquartered in Huntsville at the Redstone Arsenal, where all its directorates are also located. This directorate
conducts R&D on all types of rocket propulsion technology, including propellants, ignition systems, gas operated power systems, propulsion systems controls, propulsion mechanics, structures, and materials. It annually receives about $13.2 million in
federal R&D funds, approximately $7.7 million of which are
spent on in-house activities, and has about 127 civilian personnel, only a portion of whom are directly involved in R&D ac-
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DISCOVERY AND INNOVATION
tivities. A substantial portion of these funds is spent on the
maintenance and operation of R&D equipment and facilities. In
October 1999, the Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center was provisionally merged with the Aviation Research, Development, and Engineering Center, which is also
headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama.
• The Engineering Directorate is a unit of DOD’s Army Missile
Research, Development, and Engineering Center. The center is
headquartered in Huntsville at the Redstone Arsenal, where all
its directorates are also located. This directorate conducts
R&D on new missile and weapon system concepts, hardware
technology, critical process technology, software, and statistical
methodology, with a particular focus on such areas as microelectronics and manufacturing and production technologies. It
annually receives about $24.6 million in federal R&D funds,
approximately $17.2 million of which are spent on in-house activities, and has about 665 civilian personnel, only a portion of
whom are directly involved in R&D activities. A substantial
portion of these funds is spent on the maintenance and operation of R&D equipment and facilities. In October 1999, the
Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center was
provisionally merged with the Aviation Research, Development,
and Engineering Center, which is also headquartered in
Huntsville, Alabama.
• The Systems Simulation and Development Directorate is a unit
of DOD’s Army Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center. The center is headquartered in Huntsville at the
Redstone Arsenal, where all its directorates are also located.
This directorate conducts R&D on aeroballistics, flight dynamics, aerodynamics, simulation theory and technology, math
model verification and validation techniques, and real-time,
time-critical simulation technology. It annually receives about
$29.7 million in federal R&D funds, approximately $6.5 million
of which are spent on in-house activities, and has about 100
civilian personnel, only a portion of whom are directly involved
FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN ALABAMA 11
in R&D activities. A substantial portion of these funds is spent
on the maintenance and operation of R&D equipment and facilities. In October 1999, the Missile Research, Development,
and Engineering Center was provisionally merged with the Aviation Research, Development, and Engineering Center, which is
also headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama.
• The Weapons Directorate is a unit of DOD’s Army Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center. The center is
headquartered in Huntsville at the Redstone Arsenal, where all
its directorates are also located. This directorate conducts
R&D on missile, laser, microwave, and beam weaponry, with a
particular focus on such matters as target signatures, electromagnetic propagation phenomena, electro- and magneto-optical
interactions and materials, physics of the atmosphere, photochemical processes, optical computing, image processing, and
high-energy lasers. It annually receives about $8.6 million in
federal R&D funds, approximately $3.8 million of which are
spent on in-house activities, and has about 59 civilian personnel,
only a portion of whom are directly involved in R&D activities.
A portion of these funds is spent on the maintenance and operation of R&D equipment and facilities. In October 1999, the
Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center was
provisionally merged with the Aviation Research, Development,
and Engineering Center, which is also headquartered in
Huntsville, Alabama.
• The Technical Management Directorate and the Applied Technology Initiative are units of DOD’s Army Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center. The center is headquartered
in Huntsville at the Redstone Arsenal, where all its directorates
and the initiative are also located. This directorate oversees the
R&D activities of the center and annually receives approximately $12 million of federal R&D funds, all of which are
spent in in-house activities, and has about 315 civilian personnel, all of whom are directly involved in R&D activities. The
initiative receives about $51.7 million of federal R&D funds, ap-
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DISCOVERY AND INNOVATION
proximately $1.7 million of which is spent on in-house activities,
and has about 16 civilian personnel. In October 1999, the
Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center was
provisionally merged with the Aviation Research, Development,
and Engineering Center, which is also headquartered in
Huntsville, Alabama.
• The Redstone Technical Test Center is a unit of DOD. It is located at Redstone Arsenal and is the site of the Army’s aviation
and missile R&D test facilities. These facilities include wind
tunnels, airworthiness units, and flight ranges. This federal facility annually receives approximately $29 million of federal
R&D funds, all of which are spent on in-house activities, and
employs about 145 civilians, only a portion of whom are directly involved in R&D activities. A substantial portion of
these funds is spent on the maintenance and operation of R&D
equipment and facilities.
• The Space and Missile Defense Technical Center is a unit of the
Army inside DOD. The center conducts R&D on the missile
technologies for the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization and
on space and space-related technologies for the Army. Specific
R&D activities of the center focus on such areas as high-energy
lasers; directed energy weapons; structures; materials; weapons
lethality, vulnerability, and survivability; optics, radar, and laser
radar technology; high-performance microelectronics; sensor
phenomenology; electromagnetic technologies; miniature interceptors; advanced computer hardware and software; and gallium nitride microwave power amplifiers. This federal unit annually receives about $300 million in federal R&D funds,
virtually all of which is spent on in-house activities, and has
about 400 civilian personnel, only a portion of whom are directly involved in R&D activities. A portion of these funds is
spent on the maintenance and operation of R&D equipment
and facilities.
• The Space and Missile Defense Battle Laboratory is a unit of the
Army inside DOD designed to provide warfighters with the
FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN ALABAMA 13
very latest space and missile defense capabilities. It is one of 11
battle laboratories established to define the horizontally integrated capabilities required to operate and field an effective
Army. Its R&D activities focus on high-performance computing
and simulations. The unit’s Advanced Research Center is an
R&D computational test-bed for missile defense programs,
while its Simulation Center conducts R&D on future space and
strategic defense applications. This federal unit annually receives about $15 million of federal R&D funds, approximately
$4.5 million of which is spent on in-house activities, and has
about 91 civilian personnel, only a portion of whom are directly
involved in R&D activities. A portion of these funds is spent on
the maintenance and operation of R&D equipment and facilities.
Mobile, Alabama, is home to DOD’s Naval Research Laboratory USS
Shadwell and the Department of Transportation’s (DOT’s) Fire and
Safety Test Detachment.
• The USS Shadwell is a unit of DOD’s Naval Research Laboratory. While the center of all of the laboratory’s R&D activities
is in the District of Columbia, it maintains a decommissioned
ship as a floating laboratory in Mobile Bay. The focus of all activities on this ship, formerly the USS Shadwell, is developing,
testing, and implementing techniques and equipment for use in
shipboard firefighting. The funding and staffing for this ship are
modest and are included in that for the main laboratory in the
District of Columbia.
• The Fire and Safety Test Detachment is a unit of the Coast
Guard Research and Development Center inside DOT’s Coast
Guard. It conducts research to improve marine fire protection
and safety through the use of full-scale fire tests and evaluations.
Specific R&D activities of this unit include investigating compartment burnouts, flammable liquids in drums, cargo and machinery space fires, container fire protection, hatch cover fire resistance, explosion suppression, deck foam systems, halon
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DISCOVERY AND INNOVATION
alternatives, and smoke movement. The test site is on Little
Sand Island in Mobile Bay and includes a tanker, a Victory
ship, and a fire test area on the island. This federal R&D unit
annually receives approximately $305,000 in federal R&D
funds and has one civilian employee.
Montgomery, Alabama, is home to DOI’s Alabama District Office of
Water Resources.
• The Alabama District Office of Water Resources is a unit of
DOI’s USGS. It oversees the R&D activities of USGS’s National
Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA), Ground-Water Resources
Assessment, Toxic Substances Hydrology, and Federal State
Cooperatives programs. The NAWQA program conducts research on the nation’s surface and groundwater resources to better understand the effect of pesticides, erosion, and bacterial
contamination on water quality. The Ground-Water Resources
Assessment program studies groundwater systems to develop
models and simulations to better understand the workings of
these systems. The Toxic Substances Hydrology program studies the behavior of toxic substances in hydrologic environments.
These research activities investigate subsurface contamination at
local releases and aquatic ecosystem contamination on a watershed and regional scale. The Federal State Cooperatives program studies the effects of agricultural chemicals, floods,
droughts, and waste disposal on water supply and groundwater
quality. This federal unit annually receives approximately $1
million in federal R&D funds.
Muscle Shoals, Alabama, is home to the Tennessee Valley Authority’s
Environmental Research Center.
• The Environmental Research Center (ERC) is the headquarters of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) Environmental
Research and Services organization. ERC is responsible for
cleansing the soil at Muscle Shoals contaminated by R&D conducted many years ago on fertilizer and munitions. To accomplish this, ERC has had to conduct R&D on how to clean up
FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN ALABAMA 15
soil contaminated with chemicals. Specifically, ERC develops
enhanced bioremediation technologies for cleanup of PCBs and
PAHs, researches biofilter technology to convert pollutant gases
and liquids to harmless forms, studies the use of constructed
wetlands and their value in removing heavy metals and organic
pollutants from industrial and municipal wastes, provides economically feasible biomass conversion technologies for waste
materials, and develops improved processes to convert wastes
into useful products and environmental sensors for the detection
and quantification of pollutants in various environments. In recent years, the resources devoted to environmental R&D by
ERC have declined significantly because most of the cleaning up
of Muscle Shoals is complete. Indeed, the cleanup of Muscle
Shoals is scheduled to be finished in FY 2001. In FY 1998, only
about $5 million was spent on environmental R&D at ERC. By
FY 2000, TVA expects this amount to fall to zero.
Federal R&D Grants to Alabama Entities
Every major institution of higher education in Alabama is the recipient of significant federal R&D dollars each year through grants
made by federal agencies to faculty, graduate students, and research
centers. The vast majority of the R&D grants are made by HHS, NSF,
DOD, and NASA to individual faculty members and therefore ultimately inure to the benefit of such institutions as the University of Alabama, Auburn University, the University of South Alabama (USA),
Tuskegee University, and Alabama A&M University. The table below
shows the number of R&D grants active in FY 1998, highlighting those
made by HHS, NSF, DOD, and NASA to parties at the various institutions and estimates of the total dollars transferred to them in FY
1998 pursuant to the terms of these grants. Among the grants in the
“Other Agencies” category going to the University of Alabama are ones
from the Department of Justice ($3 million), the Department of Education ($2 million), and the Department of Transportation ($2 million).
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DISCOVERY AND INNOVATION
Table 1.1 – Sources of Federal R&D Grants to Higher Education in Alabama
HHS
Institution
NSF
DOD
NASA
Total
Amount # Amount # Amount # Amount # Amount # Amount
U of Alabama $137M 559 $6M 103
Auburn
$2M 24 $2M 39
8
USA
$10M 54 <$1M
0
5
0
Tuskegee
$3M
1
2 <$1M
Alabama A&M <$1M
7
Other
$1M 12 <$1M
$3M
$2M
0
$1M
$1M
$1M
19
14
0
2
7
2
$9M 158
$7M
44
Total
Other
Agencies
$152M 656
$5M 160 $9M 43 $159M
<$1M 17 $6M 247 $12M
3 $10M
3 <$1M
<$1M
<$1M 20 $2M 27 $6M
$1M 20 $2M 38 $4M
2 $2M
8 <$1M
<$1M
#
884
341
68
54
68
31
$6M 228 $18M 360 $193M 1,446
These activities are particularly significant because they fund much
of the “basic research” so critical to expanding our knowledge and understanding of fundamental scientific phenomena. In addition, these
funds account for a substantial portion of the dollars available each
year to various academic departments within these institutions, such as
the School of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Several other nonacademic institutions in Alabama also receive a
significant amount of federal R&D grants each year. Foremost among
the institutions that received R&D grants in FY 1998 are the Southern
Research Institute in Birmingham ($17 million), Blue Cross/Blue Shield
in Birmingham ($1 million), and Tensor Technology in Huntsville ($1
million).
Scattered among these grants, as well as among the contracts discussed in the section below, are small business innovative research
(SBIR) awards. These are special awards made by the SBIR programs
supported by the 10 federal agencies with annual budgets for extramural R&D of more than $100 million. In a recent year, small businesses in Alabama received 70 SBIR awards totaling $19 million. Examples include a $700,000 award from the Army to Quality Research,
Inc., in Huntsville for work on a virtual reality battlefield management
tool for command, control, and communications nets and a $750,000
award from HHS to Bioelastics Research, Ltd., in Birmingham for
work on injectable implants to correct urinary incontinence.
FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN ALABAMA 17
Also included among these grants are formula grants from federal
agencies. Formula grants differ from the much more common project
grants in that the money transmitted via formula grants is allocated to
a state or one of its subdivisions in accordance with a distribution formula prescribed by law or regulation. Among the formula grants
benefiting Alabama are ones valued at more than $7.3 million from
USDA’s Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service
(CSREES) to State Agricultural Experiment Stations, forestry schools,
and veterinary colleges for the support of research in agriculture,
forestry, and animal health and disease. Similarly, a modest formula
grant goes from DOI’s USGS to the Water Resources Research Institute
in Alabama every year to foster research in water and water-related
problems.
Other Federal R&D Activities in Alabama
Several entities in Alabama also receive notable sums in the form of
contracts or cooperative agreements from federal agencies for specific
R&D efforts. The majority of these funds go to Nichols Research Corporation, which in FY 1998 received close to $133 million in DOD
R&D contracts for its engineering, analysis, and design effort in support of national and theater missile defense programs; battle management/command, control, and communication systems; and sea-, air-,
ground-, and space-based sensor systems. In addition, Teledyne Industries ($76 million), Dynetics Inc. ($62 million), Mevatec Corporation ($41 million), Colsa Corporation ($34 million), CAS Inc. ($32 million), and the Boeing Company ($31 million) received very large R&D
contracts from federal agencies in FY 1998. Note that these amounts
are in addition to any federal R&D grants also received by these companies. For example, Dynetics also received $65,000 in R&D grants in
FY 1998. The University of Alabama ($42 million), Alabama A&M
($1 million), and Auburn University ($1 million) also received contracts
from various federal agencies to conduct R&D for the federal government. Although these amounts are notable, they do not come close to
eclipsing the funds that these institutions receive from federal R&D
grants.
18
DISCOVERY AND INNOVATION
A total of $35 million of federal R&D dollars was also received in
FY 1998 by entities in Alabama in the form of cooperative agreements. By far the largest of these cooperative agreements ($19 million
in FY 1998) came from DOE to Southern Co. Services Inc., in Birmingham for work on a hot gas cleanup test facility for coal gasification
and pressurized combustion. Other federal agencies awarding cooperative agreements to Alabama-based entities include USDA, DOD,
and NSF. Among these latter cooperative agreements is an award
supporting one of NSF’s Materials Research Science and Engineering
Centers—the Center for Materials for Information Technology at the
University of Alabama.